Publications
Publication details [#67450]
Motschenbacher, Heiko. 2014. Focusing on normativity in language and sexuality studies: Insights from conversations on objectophilia. Critical Discourse Studies 11 (1) : 49–70.
Publication type
Article in journal
Publication language
English
Keywords
Language as a subject
Annotation
The present article explores how the concept of normativity can be used as a starting point for research on language and sexuality, such as Queer Linguistics. Recent language and sexuality research has demonstrated the prominent role that normativity plays in the discursive construction of identities and behaviours, but the theorisation of normativity as an analytical concept has so far remained limited. To change this state of affairs, this article discusses the theoretical underpinnings of normativity as they relate to language and sexuality studies. This discussion is then supplemented by a case study on how speakers on a televised German radio phone-in show orient to sexual normativities in talk about objectophilia, a clearly non-normative form of sexuality. The concluding section elaborates on the consequences that a focus on normativity in language and sexuality studies suggests for potential Queer Linguistic agendas and critical discourse studies more generally.